**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins

[WAKKO!]

phil had a hunch luke had the knowledge to be a coach

Luke going to be better than Phil

 

[moonman818]

The vibe is quite different in here


Let's keep up the good play

 

[sb]

phil had a hunch luke had the knowledge to be a coach

Luke going to be better than Phil

View media item 2211786

 

[EddieDoyers]

phil had a hunch luke had the knowledge to be a coach

Luke going to be better than Phil

Phil=Obi Wan
Luke=Luke Skywalker

 

[freeze]

phil had a hunch luke had the knowledge to be a coach

Luke going to be better than Phil

already better than phil. Phil couldn't win with this squad. Son needs historical talent to flourish.

 

[mr j 858]

Luke going to be better than Phil

Yeah after his first ever coached game in the league...

Already he's going to have a better coaching career than Phil

I see what 2 dreadful years of watching Byron coaching a team does to some fans expectations

 

[mr j 858]

already better than phil. Phil couldn't win with this squad. Son needs historical talent to flourish.

False.

Phil's best coaching season was when he came back to the Lakers for his second run in 05-06.

How he ever managed to get that team built with just prime Kobe and a bunch of scrubbs into the playoffs was seriously amazing.

 

[mr j 858]

Maggio looking thick as fuuhhhh on this postgame show. Jesus mother of God

Ehh... I sure as heck wouldn't kick her out of bed.

But u know half of the other NT Laker fans would and want tooth pick skinny Kelli Tennant instead.

 

[freeze]

already better than phil. Phil couldn't win with this squad. Son needs historical talent to flourish.

False.

Phil's best coaching season was when he came back to the Lakers for his second run in 05-06.

How he ever managed to get that team built with just prime Kobe and a bunch of scrubbs into the playoffs was seriously amazing.

lol..just prime kobe.


kobe was averagin like 35 a night. he had a month straight of averaging 40. had an 81 point game and like 4 50 pt games back to back.

Thats how.

 

[kingjaffejo]

Kelli Tennant is the baddest thing walking around the Lakers media!! Thats muh boo
I have a thing for volleyball players. 2 of my exes played volleyball

 

[mr j 858]

lol..just prime kobe.


kobe was averagin like 35 a night. he had a month straight of averaging 40. had an 81 point game and like 4 50 pt games back to back.

Thats how.

Exactly.

Look at what other players were on that team. Smush, Mihm, Kwame, under performing Odom, Luke.

I guarantee you not even: Pops, Pat Riley, or any other legendary coach gets that team into the playoffs in a stacked West Conf at that time.

Heck that season the Lakers were up 3-1 against MVP led Nash Suns and we should have upset them and moved onto the second round.

Heck to even go further back. He took the Bulls to the ECF with a team built around Pippen after Jordan retired for the 1st time in his career.

 

[Burton Guster]

Exactly.

Look at what other players were on that team. Smush, Mihm, Kwame, under performing Odom, Luke.

I guarantee you not even: Pops, Pat Riley, or any legendary coach gets that team into the playoffs in a stacked West Conf at that time.

Heck that season the Lakers were up 3-1 against MVP led Nash Suns and we should have upset them and moved onto the second round.

**** Tim Thomas

 

[cash money 1999]

What a fun team to watch

 

[cash money 1999]

already better than phil. Phil couldn't win with this squad. Son needs historical talent to flourish.

100 percent fax, luke was outchea getting them john wooden gems from his pops as a youngin

 

[Deleted member 107398]

We're undefeated!

 

[pmatic]

 

[Los Angeles]

well that was fun

 

[had pants]

 

[cruzair13]

Man, 60+ points from the Clarkson Dlo and Julius is gonna be huge.

Anyone feel that shots were either a layup or a 3pt shot last night?

Midrange is dead

 

[delete1234]

There were plenty midrange Js

 

[Maximus Meridius]

A new day is upon us. Ain't seen them play with that type energy and confidence since... Ever. DRuss was of course feeling himself but Julius was out there looking like a new player.

 

[Deleted member 107398]

There was one play where Harden was in a iso, the rest of the players were just watching...Russell then rushed behind Harden and stripped the ball from him...I felt like that finally woke them up and they caught fire

 

[pmatic]

Woj:

How the Lakers hit reset to begin life without Kobe

Most of these young Lakers had grown accustomed to the Staples Center cheering on Kobe Bryant’s farewell, a separate season within the franchise’s most lost year of all. They had grown accustomed to the cheering of wayward, contested shots on the way out the door, on a young team trying to say hello when a legend was saying goodbye.

As the final seconds bled away on a 120-114 opening-night victory on Wednesday over Houston, something had changed here. Everyone was cheering an ambitious young coach molding an ambitious young group. They are a long, long way from the Showtime Lakers, but everyone could see: Finally, they’ve started on the way somewhere now.

“I’ll tell you what it felt like: It felt like a home game,” guard D’Angelo Russell told The Vertical outside his locker on Wednesday night. “Last year, we had Kobe and the fans. We had some diehard Lakers fans, and Kobe fans. But we had so many guys who didn’t have identities for the fans to recognize. But today, it felt like a home game.

“You go to Utah, or Houston – and they’re rooting for their team. Here, this is the home of the NBA. People come to the see the show, too. Don’t get me wrong: They’re all Lakers fans, they’re incredible, but they want to see the show, too.”

Russell is 20 years old and blossoming into a worthy No. 2 overall draft pick: He had 20 points. Julius Randle had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Jordan Clarkson had 25 points. And the youngest of them all, Brandon Ingram – who sits in Bryant’s old locker stall – delivered flashes of his gifts, bringing the ball up the floor at 6-foot-9, guarding James Harden and making hard shots seem so, so easy.

The Lakers aren’t a playoff team this year – nor next. Yet it’s clear that Luke Walton is successfully selling the values of selflessness and hard play, cultivating a system where there had largely been dysfunction and chaos. The Lakers are growing talent, placing a premium on player development. All in all, the Lakers are rejoining the modern NBA now.

On the first full night of the league’s schedule, there were superstar performances everywhere. Anthony Davis dropped 50 points. DeMar DeRozan had 40. Russell Westbrook closed out the 76ers in the final minutes, totaling 32 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. And here at Staples Center, in Mike D’Antoni’s souped-up Rockets offense, Harden had gone for 34 points and 17 assists.

Commissioner Adam Silver was watching courtside at Staples, fully aware of this unmistakable NBA truth: The league is always stronger, always more vibrant and relevant, when the Los Angeles Lakers matter. Now, they have two years to develop this young core of Russell and Randle, Ingram and Clarkson, for the free-agent class of 2018.

In two years, two sons of Southern California – Indiana’s Paul George and Oklahoma City’s Westbrook – can become free agents and consider coming home. In their recent state of disrepair, the Lakers have been fully unappealing to superstar free agents. Kevin Durant wouldn’t take a meeting with them. The Lakers called the reps of Memphis’ Mike Conley on July 1, only to be told they wouldn’t be seriously considered. Miami center Hassan Whiteside passed, too.

Now, the Lakers are starting the climb out of a dark place. There are no easy fixes, no saviors to rescue them. Those days are long gone. They played tough-minded ball in the final minutes, made stops and found a way to make the Staples Center loud again, found a way to inspire a noise for something bigger than a one-man show, a farewell tour.

“We have the talent,” Russell told The Vertical. “We have the coach. We can do some things this year.”

This is how a franchise starts again, how it hits the reset button and starts the long journey back to relevance. There will be a lot of losses at Staples Center this season, but these won’t be wasted nights. The Lakers have a coach, young talent and a roadmap to start on the way to mattering again. It’s been too long here, and the franchise has a long, long way to go. Anyway, this felt like the start of something on Wednesday night, not the end.

For the Los Angeles Lakers, that’s progress. For the Lakers, no more endings, no more goodbyes. Something’s started here again. Yes, this was progress.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-the-lakers-hit-reset-to-begin-life-without-kobe-082433847.html

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

Russell Randle and Clarkson each had big defensive plays against harden. Thing of beauty

 

[pmatic]

Onto the next one:





Hopefully Favors sits out, to go with Hayward and Burks. I think Hood sprained his ankle vs the Blazers too.